10 fun facts to share with your friends!
The most kids know of St. Patrick 's Day is that you must wear green
or you'll get a pinch from your friends. Adults see the day as an
occasion to celebrate, sometimes with green beer and other assorted
alcoholic beverages. However, few really know what they are celebrating
or why the holiday is so important, particularly in the Americas.The following 10 facts may help you to better enjoy this popular holiday.
10. March 17th is when Patrick died.
Saint Patrick is a saint of the Catholic Church, and his holy day is the day of his death, and subsequent entrance to heaven, rather than the day of his physical birth. After spending most of his adult life converting the pagans of Ireland to Christianity, St. Patrick went to his reward on March 17, 461 AD.
9. St. Patrick wasn't Irish.
St. Patrick wasn't Irish, and he wasn't born in Ireland. Patrick's parents were Roman citizens living in modern-day England, or more precisely in Scotland or Wales (scholars cannot agree on which). He was born in 385 AD. By that time, most Romans were Christians and the Christian religion was spreading rapidly across Europe.
8. St. Patrick was a slave.
At the age of 16, Patrick had the misfortune of being kidnapped by Irish raiders who took him away and sold him as a slave. He spent several years in Ireland herding sheep and learning about the people there. At the age of 22, he managed to escape. He made his way to a monastery in England where he spent 12 years growing closer to God.
7. St. Patrick used the shamrock to preach about the trinity.
Many claim the shamrock represents faith, hope, and love, or any number of other things but it was actually used by Patrick to teach the mystery of the Holy Trinity, and how three things, the Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit could be separate entities, yet one in the same. Obviously, the pagan rulers of Ireland found Patrick to be convincing because they quickly converted to Christianity.
6. Legend says St. Patrick drove all the snakes from Ireland.
According to legend, St. Patrick drove all the snakes, or in some translations, "toads," out of Ireland. In reality, this probably did not occur, as there is no evidence that snakes have ever existed in Ireland, the climate being too cool for them to thrive. Despite that, scholars suggest that the term "snakes" may be figurative and refer to pagan religious beliefs and practices rather than reptiles or amphibians.
5. Patrick's color is blue.
The original color associated with St. Patrick is blue, not green as commonly believed. In several artworks depicting the saint, he is shown wearing blue vestments. King Henry VIII used the Irish harp in gold on a blue flag to represent the country. Since that time, and possibly before, blue has been a popular color to represent the country on flags, coats-of-arms, and even sports jerseys.
Green was associated with the country later, presumably because of the greenness of the countryside, which is so because Ireland receives plentiful rainfall. Today, the country is also referred to as the "Emerald Isle."
4. The Shamrock is not the symbol of Ireland.
The shamrock is a popular Irish symbol, but it is not the symbol of Ireland. As early as the medieval period, the harp has appeared on Irish gravestones and manuscripts. However, it is certain that the harp was popular in Irish legend and culture even well before that period.
Since the medieval period, the harp has represented the nation. King Henry VIII used the harp on coins as early as 1534. Later, the harp was used on Irish flags and Irish coats of arms. The harp was also used as a symbol of the Irish people during their long struggle for freedom. Starting in 1642 the harp appeared on flags during rebellions against English rule. When Ireland became an independent country in 1921, it adopted the harp as the national symbol.
3. There are more Irish in the USA than Ireland.
Well, sort of. An estimated 34 million Americans have Irish ancestry. Some are pure-blood Irish, meaning they or their parents came from Ireland, but many more have mixed ancestry today. By contrast, there are 4.2 million people living in Ireland. This peculiarity has a lot to do with the troubled history of Ireland. During the potato famine in Ireland, millions of Irish left the country for the US. This diaspora of Irish continued throughout much of the 19th century. Great numbers of Irish immigrants filled factories, served as railroad laborers --and even joined the military, sometimes immediately upon stepping foot on American soil! During the US Civil War, entire regiments of troops were comprised exclusively of Irish immigrants. It wasn't until the economic boom of the 1990s that more Irish stayed in their native country than traveled abroad searching for better opportunities.
2. St. Patrick's Day in the US has a strong political history.
In the mid 19th century, the Irish faced discrimination much like that faced by African Americans. In a few rare instances, prejudice against the Irish was even more fierce! The Irish were culturally unique, Catholic, and because of deplorable conditions in Ireland, flooded into the US in large numbers. They were perceived as a potentially disloyal and were treated harshly. To combat this, the American Irish began to organize themselves politically. By the end of the 19th century, St. Patrick's Day was a large holiday for the Irish and an occasion for them to demonstrate their collective political and social might. While the political emphasis has faded along with the discrimination, the holiday remains ever popular as an opportunity for festivity regardless of one's cultural background.
1. St. Patrick's was a dry holiday in Ireland until 1970.
Aside from the color green, the activity most associated with St. Patrick's Day is drinking. However, Irish law, from 1903 to 1970, declared St. Patrick's Day a religious observance for the entire country meaning that all pubs were shut down for the day. That meant no beer, not even the green kind, for public celebrants. The law was overturned in 1970, when St. Patrick's was reclassified as a national holiday - allowing the taps to flow freely once again.
Saint Patrick is a saint of the Catholic Church, and his holy day is the day of his death, and subsequent entrance to heaven, rather than the day of his physical birth. After spending most of his adult life converting the pagans of Ireland to Christianity, St. Patrick went to his reward on March 17, 461 AD.
9. St. Patrick wasn't Irish.
St. Patrick wasn't Irish, and he wasn't born in Ireland. Patrick's parents were Roman citizens living in modern-day England, or more precisely in Scotland or Wales (scholars cannot agree on which). He was born in 385 AD. By that time, most Romans were Christians and the Christian religion was spreading rapidly across Europe.
8. St. Patrick was a slave.
At the age of 16, Patrick had the misfortune of being kidnapped by Irish raiders who took him away and sold him as a slave. He spent several years in Ireland herding sheep and learning about the people there. At the age of 22, he managed to escape. He made his way to a monastery in England where he spent 12 years growing closer to God.
7. St. Patrick used the shamrock to preach about the trinity.
Many claim the shamrock represents faith, hope, and love, or any number of other things but it was actually used by Patrick to teach the mystery of the Holy Trinity, and how three things, the Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit could be separate entities, yet one in the same. Obviously, the pagan rulers of Ireland found Patrick to be convincing because they quickly converted to Christianity.
6. Legend says St. Patrick drove all the snakes from Ireland.
According to legend, St. Patrick drove all the snakes, or in some translations, "toads," out of Ireland. In reality, this probably did not occur, as there is no evidence that snakes have ever existed in Ireland, the climate being too cool for them to thrive. Despite that, scholars suggest that the term "snakes" may be figurative and refer to pagan religious beliefs and practices rather than reptiles or amphibians.
5. Patrick's color is blue.
The original color associated with St. Patrick is blue, not green as commonly believed. In several artworks depicting the saint, he is shown wearing blue vestments. King Henry VIII used the Irish harp in gold on a blue flag to represent the country. Since that time, and possibly before, blue has been a popular color to represent the country on flags, coats-of-arms, and even sports jerseys.
Green was associated with the country later, presumably because of the greenness of the countryside, which is so because Ireland receives plentiful rainfall. Today, the country is also referred to as the "Emerald Isle."
4. The Shamrock is not the symbol of Ireland.
The shamrock is a popular Irish symbol, but it is not the symbol of Ireland. As early as the medieval period, the harp has appeared on Irish gravestones and manuscripts. However, it is certain that the harp was popular in Irish legend and culture even well before that period.
Since the medieval period, the harp has represented the nation. King Henry VIII used the harp on coins as early as 1534. Later, the harp was used on Irish flags and Irish coats of arms. The harp was also used as a symbol of the Irish people during their long struggle for freedom. Starting in 1642 the harp appeared on flags during rebellions against English rule. When Ireland became an independent country in 1921, it adopted the harp as the national symbol.
3. There are more Irish in the USA than Ireland.
Well, sort of. An estimated 34 million Americans have Irish ancestry. Some are pure-blood Irish, meaning they or their parents came from Ireland, but many more have mixed ancestry today. By contrast, there are 4.2 million people living in Ireland. This peculiarity has a lot to do with the troubled history of Ireland. During the potato famine in Ireland, millions of Irish left the country for the US. This diaspora of Irish continued throughout much of the 19th century. Great numbers of Irish immigrants filled factories, served as railroad laborers --and even joined the military, sometimes immediately upon stepping foot on American soil! During the US Civil War, entire regiments of troops were comprised exclusively of Irish immigrants. It wasn't until the economic boom of the 1990s that more Irish stayed in their native country than traveled abroad searching for better opportunities.
2. St. Patrick's Day in the US has a strong political history.
In the mid 19th century, the Irish faced discrimination much like that faced by African Americans. In a few rare instances, prejudice against the Irish was even more fierce! The Irish were culturally unique, Catholic, and because of deplorable conditions in Ireland, flooded into the US in large numbers. They were perceived as a potentially disloyal and were treated harshly. To combat this, the American Irish began to organize themselves politically. By the end of the 19th century, St. Patrick's Day was a large holiday for the Irish and an occasion for them to demonstrate their collective political and social might. While the political emphasis has faded along with the discrimination, the holiday remains ever popular as an opportunity for festivity regardless of one's cultural background.
1. St. Patrick's was a dry holiday in Ireland until 1970.
Aside from the color green, the activity most associated with St. Patrick's Day is drinking. However, Irish law, from 1903 to 1970, declared St. Patrick's Day a religious observance for the entire country meaning that all pubs were shut down for the day. That meant no beer, not even the green kind, for public celebrants. The law was overturned in 1970, when St. Patrick's was reclassified as a national holiday - allowing the taps to flow freely once again.
St. Patrick's Day is dedicated to St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. Despite popular belief, he did not rid the island of snakes, but did convert many of the Irish people to Christianity. But who exactly was he? Patrick was born in Britain to wealthy parents, but at the age of sixteen, was taken prisoner by a group of Irish raiders, who took the young man back home with them to be engaged as a slave. After more than six years as a prisoner, Patrick managed to escape, and according to his writings; God spoke to him in a dream, telling him it was time to leave Ireland. This meant walking more than two hundred miles, but he eventually made it back to Britain. Not long after, he experienced a second dream, in which an angel instructed him to return to Ireland as a missionary. He spent the next fifteen years in Religious study, becoming a priest, and then fulfilling the angel's request. He was already familiar with the Irish language and culture so instead of enforcing his own Christian beliefs, he incorporated them into the traditional rituals. Since the Irish used to honour their gods with fire, he used bonfires to celebrate Easter and drew suns, a powerful Irish symbol, onto the Christian cross to create what is now called a Celtic cross.
Though he was not the first Christian in Ireland, he became the most influential one, and since it is believed that he died on March 17, 460 CE; that day has been set aside as his Saint's Day. http://www.victoriancanada.com/saint_patrick.html
The cynic might think there's more chance of finding St Patrick's Day celebrations in Shangai than on the Shankill and that Bali will see more wearing of the green than Ballymena.
But, while Protestants here have hardly been the biggest fans of Ireland's patron saint, who they say has been hijacked by republicans, several hundred Orangemen will still be on the march over the weekend on the Shankill and in Ballymena to commemorate St Patrick.It'll be a drop in the ocean admittedly among an estimated six million people around the world who'll be drowning their shamrocks over a weekend when only a minority of Ulster Protestants will raise a glass to Patrick on what's seen by some as the Catholic answer to the Twelfth of July.
But things are changing. Slowly. And in the past decade a growing number of unionists have started to embrace the saint they once accused Sinn Fein of politicising for their own ends. Especially in Belfast.
For several years in a row there was controversy as nationalists and republicans attending a St Patrick's Day concert and parade in the city centre waved Tricolours in a sea of green which was like a red rag to those of an Orange hue.
Belfast City Council responded by trying to neutralise the carnival – which this year runs for four days – by banning all flags and emblems in a move which encouraged Protestant community groups to join in the festivities.
But the fear this year is that tomorrow's St Patrick's Day pageant could raise tensions if large numbers of Tricolours are used as tools of triumphalism in the city centre where the restrictions on the flying of the Union flag at the City Hall have sparked weeks of often violent protests.
One leading loyalist is pessimistic: "I think relationships have taken a few steps back because the flag and symbols are again to the forefront of our differences. The worry is that the Tricolour may become an issue once more on St Patrick's Day at the City Hall where the Union flag has been the focus of attention for months."
Police are also aware that loyalist flag protesters have been threatening to demonstrate at the City Hall tomorrow which could be a major security nightmare on a day that is supposed to promote harmony and understanding.
The
irony of course is that St Patrick – and more specifically his Cross –
is part of the Union flag, "so every time we fly the flag we are
elevating and lifting up St Patrick," says the loyalist source,
reinforcing the conclusion the two sides here have been engaged in a
power struggle for ownership of St Patrick.
Sinn Fein
Councillor Mairtin O Muilleoir says he believes Belfast's St Patrick's
Day is becoming more of a cross-community event. "I don't want to
exaggerate it and we're not there yet but it's a testament to this city
that there is more of a shared occasion around St Patrick," he said.
Only one politician from the Unionist community has been ever-present at the St Patrick's celebrations in Belfast.
Dr
John Kyle, a former chairman of the Progressive Unionist Party has been
criticised in some loyalist quarters for his participation especially
in the days before flags were outlawed but he has no regrets and will be
in the parade tomorrow.
"I am happy to celebrate St
Patrick because he's a man to be admired and respected. In terms of the
Christian faith I believe Protestants and Catholics owe him a huge debt
of gratitude.
"He came to a country and changed it for good and he doesn't belong to either tradition."
Dr
Kyle finds the reluctance to take part in the Paddy parties by some
Unionist parties hypocritical. "Why is it ok for them to go to St
Patrick's Day celebrations in Washington and not to one in Belfast?
"I
think unionism undersells itself in terms of its heritage and it needs
to stop vacating shared space. We have instead to celebrate our shared
history. St Patrick is just as much part of the unionist heritage as the
nationalist heritage."
One Ulster Scots organisation –
the Ullans Academy – which includes churchmen, politicians and former
paramilitaries in its ranks – is trying to bring St Patrick back into
the unionist fold.
Each year the academy holds a St
Patrick's Day breakfast to which they invite Protestants and Catholics
to explore their common bonds with the patron saint.
The
former DUP leader Dr Ian Paisley, who regularly attends the breakfast,
used the occasion six years ago to call for St Patrick's Day to be
declared a public holiday in Northern Ireland.
Wearing a
sprig of shamrock, he told me how he admired the saint and preached and
wrote about him on a regular basis, describing him as one of the
greatest evangelists of all time.
Even at the height of Protestant hostility towards St Patrick his spirit was kept alive, ironically, by the Army.
Its
local regiments all received shamrock every March 17, usually from
members of the Royal Family under the watchful eyes of a veritable
battalion of Northern Irish journalists specially flown in for the event
by the Army.
Yet, when the soldiers went back to civvy street, the shamrock and the saint went to the back of their minds.
DUP
Assemblyman Sammy Douglas who has hosted the Ullans breakfast in
Belfast City Hall says: "I remember the excitement of going to St
Patrick's Barracks in Ballymena to see the presentation of shamrocks to
my brother and his colleagues in the Royal Irish Rifles."
But that was all there was to the MLA's engagement with the St Patrick's celebrations when he was growing up.
Douglas
says Protestant antipathy towards St Patrick is dissipating as they
re-claim him as one of their own "after years of seeing Catholics
flaunting him as a republican and nationalist icon".
"It's
still politicised in many ways. But I do believe things are different
now, though it's probably going too far to say Protestants would find it
easy to go along to the Belfast celebrations."
Ex-UDA
leader Andy Tyrie (left) has been pioneering an initiative to try to
correct the misconceptions of the past and as part of it, former PUP
leader David Ervine's brother Brian gave talks this month in both east
and west Belfast about St Patrick.
He says: "The idea is
to explode the myths and legends and I told the two audiences that St
Patrick is a candidate for a shared history between our two communities
when he is stripped away of his republican appendages and depoliticised,
making him acceptable to everyone here."
Ervine, whose
wife is promoting the Irish language in east Belfast, is convinced that
Protestants will want to learn more about St Patrick if the politics are
stripped away. "There's nothing to fear from him or the language," he
says.
The Orange Order, however, isn't fully on board the
St Patrick bandwagon yet. Its chaplain the Rev Mervyn Gibson says: "I
am happy to embrace St Patrick's heritage but not in the narrow
nationalist way it has been done recently.
"He has
definitely been hijacked but I do think that attitudes have altered over
the last 10 years as Protestants try to maybe not to re-claim St
Patrick but rather to share him.
"Certainly there's not
the same hostility as there was but many Protestants don't buy into the
green rivers and the New York parades but it is relevant with the
present situation that the cross on the Union flag is the cross of St
Patrick."
Just like Protestant churches, a number of
Orange lodges take their name from St Patrick. The Cross of St Patrick
LOL 688 says its aim is to promote his Christian message.
Five
years ago they were approached informally by a councillor to see if
they would take part in the St Patrick's Day celebrations in Downpatrick
where the saint is said to be buried.
But the idea was a non-starter because the Orangemen were told not to wear their collarettes or carry their banner.
Several
years earlier the Orange Order pulled out of a parade in Cork claiming
the safety of the small delegation of members who were scheduled to
participate couldn't be guaranteed. The order blamed Sinn Fein for
hyping up the situation with statements that the Orangemen's presence
would be offensive.
Like many Protestants, Mervyn Gibson says that as a youth in Belfast St Patrick wasn't part of his life.
"For me St Patrick's Day was only about the Schools' Cup final and the only march was rugby fans heading up the Ravenhill Road."
However,
the director of the St Patrick's Centre in Downpatrick believes more
Protestants do want to know more about Ireland's patron saint.
Dr
Tim Campbell says: "I work in the field and I know there has been a
huge sea-change over the last five or six years of people from a
unionist tradition who want to learn about St Patrick and to be more
involved in his celebrations.
"They want to find a way of
doing that because they don't necessarily want to be associated with a
parade that has a lot of flags and bunting in it.
"They
want to do it in a family friendly and safe environment. And we believe
we have been successful in doing just that in Downpatrick away from all
the politics where we can concentrate instead purely on a historical
figure."
However, not even Downpatrick which normally
attracts upwards of 30,000 people to its cross-community parade has been
immune from division.
In 2011 seven primary schools
pulled out and unionist politicians walked out after Sinn Fein
councillor Eamonn Mac Con Midhe carried a Tricolour at the head of the
St Patrick's Day parade.
He said he wasn't supporting
Down District Council's 25-year policy of flying the red and white cross
of St Patrick which he claimed 'had a military background'
However,
Dr Campbell says it's business as usual now in Downpatrick and for the
past two years a group called the Friends of St Patrick have held cross
community dinners in honour of the patron saint with DUP politicians and
Irish presidents attending them.
Tim Campbell says
Downpatrick is a lesson for everyone. "We want people to understand that
St Patrick was someone from Britain who became the patron saint of
Ireland and can be celebrated by everybody.
"We are
making inroads at making it all more inclusive. And there's more
interest among young people in St Patrick than there has ever been.
"But
he needs to be more central in the school curriculum particularly in
primary schools. Pupils need to learn more about him as a reconciling
figure."
Harder for some people to reconcile however may be the idea of a St Patrick's Day without drink.
Belfast
City Council has endorsed the idea of Sober St Patrick's Day championed
first in New York by businessman Bill Reilly, who is flying in from the
Big Apple for the celebrations here on Sunday.
Council officials are hoping his idea of a drink-free day will catch on in Belfast especially among students.
That
could be a tall order. Said one councillor: "It might be harder to
banish the booze from the Holylands than it was for St Patrick to get
rid of the snakes from Ireland." The spirit of
St Patrick was kept by the Army
